#games.. i'm still at bloodborne i just haven't had the time

[milkyberryjsk]

(logs back in, covered in blood) hi!!!!!

[beesmygod]

do the forbidden woods have any connection to the beasts or great ones, aside from being geographically adjacent to byrgenwerth? Are the snake infested fellows just "normal" as far as yharnam is concerned? Like before yharnam got all bloodborney, was the Yharnam Cartographer's Guild map of the woods still just a big circle with SNAKES written?

this is a really good question because, as a lore psycho, i think the understated lore implications of the woods are genuinely fascinating. i think there's a lot to unpeel, even if we take into account that it was one of the places in the game that was chopped up at the 11th hour and scrambled before release.

as always for these lore posts, important nouns are bolded and speculation is in italics. we are going to discuss the woods in three parts: from the gatekeeper to the windmill is "the village". from the windmill to byrgenwerth is "the woods". the subterranean cave shortcut back to yharnam will just be called "shortcut." i'll expand on this shit GREATLY when we reach this part in "you hunted" (I HAVENT STOPPED WORKING ON IT I PROMISE IM JUST SWAMPED) so considered this a light overview. feel free to ask for more details on things and ill do my best to fill in the blanks.

THE VILLAGE:

-from the jump, the village gatekeeper is a fucking weird little blip in bloodborne's narrative. i haven't thought about him enough to figure out if he's more than just a spooky, unexplained element but he has some cut dialog that sheds some mindboggling information about yharnam: he seems very confused about WHEN it is and will cite the last time he had a visitor as anything from a year to a century.

-the lamps in this area lighting the way to the village are little burning fetal beasts of some sort.

i'm starting to understand more and more about how fire operates in the world of bloodborne, since most of the time it appears in the game, it's seemingly impossible. the thing that confused me the most was how old yharnam was still burning if it happened a long time ago. i think it's time to start thinking of the old blood as impossibly combustible and a great source of light/fire. this isn't the first in-universe example of creatures being used as fuel: the lamps in the fishing village are slugs (also infants? they strongly resemble the hunter's appearance as a baby great one in the "childhood's beginning" ending). this is a whole fucking like, thing. it's its own post.

next, the huntsmen enemies here are dressed funny. you probably noticed it but couldn't pin down how. they're dressed in white church clothes! the first model here is used only in the forbidden woods. the two on the left are from central yharnam. note the gloves on the first two; these are church doctors!

(this post goes on like this for some time)

the white church doctors are the ones that were doing "experimentally backed blood ministration". the butcher's garb further defines it as "forbidden research". these white church doctors are the citizens of this "village". in the clustered buildings where the majority of the huntsmen are, you can find blue elixir and beast blood pellets in abundance. both of these items can only be purchased from the store after obtaining the choir's badge, drawing a firm connection between the white church doctor's research and the goals of the choir.

although, this probably isn't too much of a surprise; it's almost certain that this is where fauxsekfa came from. she took the same shortcut we did, right? i'm not really sure i understand the shortcut too much. but let's talk about it.

THE SHORTCUT:

although not explicitly stated, i am strongly convinced that this cave is the entrance to the hintertomb. at the very least, it is absolutely an entrance to the labyrinth. the presence of tomb mold, blood gems, parasite larva, and pthumerian giants/corpses makes this very clear. the root chalice for the hintertomb describes it as "a cesspool of noxious snakes and insects"; i think it's likely that the snakes came from the hintertomb given they can be found in the swamps there.

the giant graves here and further into the woods are referred to as "tombstone[s] of a great one".

the hunter's mark i think would suggest these are pthumerian made. its possible that the hintertomb is spilling out into the world above but frankly all of the graves here are baffling. grave placement and appearance needs more research. the graves in the woods only are developing a strange sort of honeycomb rot pattern not unlike the head of an amygdala. this pattern shows up enough that it warrants more investigation.

the slow poison-inducing "water" here has similar properties to the slow poison pool in the research hall. they are different colors, but have similar origins: the poison pool in the research hall is from the decomposing bodies of the patients, who were exposed to bizarre blood ministration and parasitism. the pool here is likely from decomposing great ones. with this in mind, perhaps the silvery liquid is mercury.

the ladder leading out of this area is fucking insane and i have a hard time understanding what occurred there. like what in the hell is up with that grave you exit into in yharnam. who popped it open. why is it so cavernous. what happened to the contents.

anyway, let's just go back to the woods.

THE VILLAGE (again)

there's really only two more things to mention here before we move on: first, beast roar can be picked up here. it's the undead, still twitching hand of a darkbeast. nothing touched by the old blood can truly die, and these severed limbs are no exception.

second are the butchers. these are the people who collect specimens, hack them apart, and present them to the church doctors for research. they show up in three different ways: the surviving madaras twin wears the butcher's set (the hunter picks up the set from the other twin's corpse), the "executioner" enemies (REMINDER: a better translation would have been "butchers" [or, literally, "dismantling men"], i have no idea why they went with "executioner" outside of their superficial appearance) wear the cape with the popped collar, and there are huntmen enemies skulking the streets below the grand cathedral hunting for victims dressed in the garb. they literally only appear there.

ah, one more thing. this is the place where you can find the suspicious beggar and interrupt him while he's in the middle of chowing down on one of the biggest families i've ever seen in my life. at first i thought the devs hysterically fucked up the sizes of the corpses, but they're dressed like the citizens of yahar'gul. while not outright stated, evidence strongly suggests that the beggar is irreverent izzy or one of his followers such as the close proximity of one of izzy's inventions and the beggar's clothing reflecting his past as both a veteran tomb prospector gone mad and former church agent. there's a lot of meat on that bone, but for another time.

OKAY. LAST PART NOW.

THE WOODS:

this is the part you probably remember the most bc it's snake hell. the first thing we absolutely need to keep in mind is that the snake-infested guys you meet are a reference to doobie from jojo. the snakes are parasites to people, but the snakes themselves are also being parasitized? they are covered in ticks, those are the huge bloated blobs all over them. given that the augurs of the great ones are invertebrates...what does that imply about the inclusion of the ticks narratively?

there's something absolutely fascinating happening to the flora and fauna in this section of the woods but it's hard to know what it all means. some notes:

-when enemies in bloodborne die, the game handles their corpse in different ways. some of this is lore related, some of it is to reduce hardware strain. some corpses turn into ragdolls, some explode into blood, some explode into white particles (sometimes with blood but not always). snakes explode into white particles. i got way too into the fucking weeds with this, but (outside of the slime scholars....kind of) all of these enemies either appear or were intended to appear in the chalice dungeons, the nightmare frontier, or the nightmare of mensis (the lecture hall containing the scholars connects the waking world to the nightmare). all of these locations are, arguably, the nightmare.

-there are statues of amygdala and a presumed evolution of the celestial child sprouting out of the ground. i am almost certain these are original versions of the statues in the grand cathedral and yahar'gul, respectively.

-remember that strange pond with the fireflies? the only place in the game where there's fireflies? what the hell is up with that lol. i kind of have an answer:

most concrete is this: back when the original boss of the woods was snakeball, you would have faced a rematch in this pond.

insane theory crafting moment: look, this is stupid complicated and a reach so if i have to get into really defending it it, ill do it in another post. but in bloodborne people can be teleported around via "communion". communion is the means of entering the chalice dungeons and requires three things: ritual blood (or perhaps just liquid, if rom's arena is anything to go by), something to hold the blood (typically a chalice, but sometimes the "chalice" is a skull), and light (this is almost always achieved with candles). this pond is probably full of blood, if the rotten bodies nearby are any indication, and the fireflies offer light. but, look, this shit was cut so don't think too hard about it.

-its in the art book but also in the game (but hard to see): the wall separating byrgenwerth from the rest of the world is melted.

wait wtf there's dudes in it. lol. what da hell!

oh my. the name for this asset is "wall of divine tomb". cool. every day i lean some new insane shit about this game, for real.

anyway the only other point of interest is whatever the fuck valtr and the league are doing. too deep of a topic for now. anyway, those were the points of interest in the forbidden woods. i hope this was....whatever counts for informative when it comes to video game trivia

[thundrstrik3]

A little about me!

Hi! I'm Sophie! I see you've found my blog, lol. I've had this blog for years, but I've never actually gotten around to telling you guys anything about myself, so I figured it's time to finally get around to that!

This is primarily an 18+ blog, so please don't follow me if you're underage!

My asks are open for any horny asks (and horny asks are very much welcome!), and my DMs are open if you want to get to know me better! Come say hi if you're interested, I don't bite... well, not too much, anyways ;)

Now, with all that said, here's a little about me!

I'm 20 years old, I live in America, and I cannot wait to get out of here as soon as I can manage it, lol.

I'm a Computer Science major, specifically I'm working towards being a software engineer, and I'm hoping to make music production software!

I've only just recently came out as trans about 2 months ago as of the time of writing this! It's been a long time coming, and it's been something I've grappled with for a while, but I've finally accepted it and it's awesome!

I haven't gotten to start transitioning yet, there's a lot of financial barriers I have to get over before I can do that, but I'm hoping I can soon! (Will update this whenever I make progress)

My sexuality is kinda a question mark? I've said I'm bisexual for ages, but between realizing I'm trans, and some recent experiences, I'm still figuring things out. We'll just say pansexual for now and leave it at that!

I'm a musician! I play guitar, piano, and I can sing! Music is my passion and has been since I was a kid, and I'd love to perform on stage someday!

I'm very sex-positive! I think people should be able to explore their sexualities in whatever way they want as long as they're safe and there's consent from all parties, and I'm not gonna have any patience for moralizing or bringing politics into kink unless it's something serious. Let's all just have fun and enjoy ourselves, okay?

Now, my one exception to the no-politics rule is a simple one: If you voted for Trump, get off my blog. You're not welcome here, and a lot of LGBTQ+ people are fixing to be hurt because of your choices.

I'm a HUGE nerd, lol. I love movies, anime, manga, TV shows, comic books, video games, basically any form of media.

My favorite band is Dream Theater, but I also love Paramore, Evanescence, Set It Off, Amaranthe, Nirvana, Linkin Park, and Panic! at the Disco! In case you can't tell, I've got a very strong vibe, lol. I'd love to share music with anyone who's interested!

I'm a DM for my local friend group! I have a ton of fun working on D&D stuff, and I may post about it on here from time to time if anything particularly exciting happens. If you've got any cool D&D ideas or stories you want to share, hit me up!

I love video games, but my favorites are Persona 3, Final Fantasy 7, the Trails series, Undertale, basically any Armored Core game, and Bloodborne! I will probably ramble about all of these games at some point on this blog, lol.

I am completely obsessed with the Nasuverse. Fate, Tsukihime, and Kara no Kyoukai are some of my favorite pieces of fiction ever and I am way too invested in the world, lol. I'm working my way through the Tsukihime Remake right now and I'm absolutely loving it, you should read it if you haven't!

That's a little bit about me! This blog has been primarily an NSFW blog up until now, but I'm gonna try to post more normal stuff on here too going forward, I think it'll be fun, and I hope you guys enjoy my posts!

Also, kink list under the cut for those interested!

Like: Hypnosis, intox, CNC, breeding, bondage, monsters, petplay, voice kink, bdsm, vampires, incest, edging, overstim, denial

Hate: scat, piss, vomit, diapers, necrophilia

[fantomette22]

Do you have any recommendations of bloodborne fan fiction? :3 I'm getting hungry for Laurence 👀

Heya!!! I'm very honoured you are asking me of all people! 👀 I mean maybe you did ask other people too x)

Hm I will try to put here a few links! But that really depends what you want to read 🤔

Do you prefer Fanfics very Laurence-centric? Some where he's just a character between many others? Do you want actions based fics? Something more calm but who are very thoughtful? Something very tragic where Laurence die or when he start to loose it maybe? At which moment of his life? Or do you prefer fics more based into relationships with other characters? And in this case which pairings? Are you more comfortable with something soft where there's just tension or maybe something more intimate? Are you alright with something more graphic and mature perhaps? (there's some very wild fics if you take the time to read some tags on ao3 but I really can't bring myself to read them XD).

Or are you the type of person that will take almost ANYTHING because you are so desperate for the slightest thing? 😂

So yeah it really depends what you are looking for.

But anyway if you are asking ME for recommendations should I understand it's really the ones I read and like? Well I was kinda busy this last few months to read fics. And when I did, I really tend to focus my time to read some featuring particular characters (like gehrman for ex). Fics focus on Laurence aren't my thing except in a few cases (even if he's in my top 5 characters)

But now I will have more time to read and finish written mine as well! That make me think...

Before I sent many link with fics mainly focused on Laurence I know I guess I need to put mine and my friend fic there as well x) They are mostly centred around Maria I supposed but also many other characters as well.

Christened in Blood written my dear friend @heraldofcrow

It's mostly focus on Maria & Bloody Crow backstory + her interpretation of how the lore went. Laurence is there a bit too XD he might show up more later as well.

My own fanfiction, A scholar's dream. It's one of my more complete headcanon/interpretation retracing all the events of the lore before the game. At least 1/4 of it for this first fic, that I haven't finished yet. It's mostly based on how the old blood was discovered by Byrgenwerth, how the healing church was founded, many characters backstory on how they meet. And university shenanigans. (I have 2/3 of chap 7 completed I will try to continue soon). It's focus on many characters and well Laurence is quite an important figure there. Not the most important but still important enough.

Alright now I tried to re find a few fics with Laurence as a main character i remembered reading too. There's some i didn't had time to read yet but are mainly focus on Laurence and written by a few people I know as well. or generally have many people on Tumblr who read them.

Bloodorne fanfictions by @mrslittletall like the Crazy Cat Vicar

Fics mainly focus on Laurence/Micolash :

Bloodborne fanfictions by @karnaca78

Bloodborne Fanfictions by @synthwayve

and fanfictions by @kiybee

---

@subzeroparade have written many fics where Laurence is the focus as well.

There's a lot of other fics focus on Laurence/Ludwig or with Laurence/Brador as well, even caryll/laurence. I had to dig in ao3 a little but go check it out you might found cool things! (sorry didn't had time to read them all for sure) there's also many little oneshots, focus with only Laurence or even bigger multi chapter fics with Laurence being a main character or not.

I remember reading Synchrony a while ago and it was cool I think. It's mostly focus on Ludwig and his adventures at Byrgenwerth.

I think there were why very cool entered around Laurence at Byrgenwerth as well + gehrman and fanfic.net. I tried to found it again but failed.

I can't just put the entirety and fanfic.net, ao3 and many others so I will stop there I think x) sorry I forgot anyone ;-;

If you want others based on other trope/characters please let me know I will try my best.

[yumeka36]

Black Myth Wukong

I finally finished my (mostly) all-bosses playthrough of Black Myth Wukong. Since a lot of my favorite streamers were playing it, and it looked intriguing from the trailer, I wanted to give it a try once I had my fill of the Elden Ring DLC. It took me a month to beat the game (I only had time to play about 2-3 hours a day).

Overall, I enjoyed the game immensely. Give me a game with really cool and creative monster designs, plus pretty, scenic areas to explore, and I'm happy! The combat is really fun too - the mix of spells, melee attacks, transformations, stance styles, etc, gives you such a variety of ways to play. Plus the fact that you can respec anytime removes the pressure of committing to one build. But honestly, I kinda stuck with the same build the whole game, lol. I focused most of my skill points on health, defense, attack, Immobilize, and Pluck of Many, as well as putting all my Mind Cores into the same, plus mana. This got me through basically all of the game with relative ease. Actually, either I got overpowered or the game wasn't that difficult for me, since by mid-chapter 2, almost every boss was a first or second try victory for me. Only exceptions were the Loongs and few chapter finale bosses and secret area bosses who took a few tries more. Then there was Erlang, who took me at least 30+ tries over 3 hours and was one of the hardest bosses I've fought in any game (coming from someone who's fought every boss in Elden Ring, Sekiro, Bloodborne, and the Dark Souls trilogy). So yeah, don't want to see that guy again anytime soon.

The only time I respeced a bit was to put more points into four banes resistance against Erlang. But I was also dumb and didn't realize there was a Drink to restore Qi, which was what I really needed to get rid of his shields with the fan vessel. But I still died a few times even after figuring this out, so I think he's just a really difficult boss.

While I enjoyed the heck out of the gameplay, unfortunately I couldn't follow the story/lore well at all. Obviously this is because I know close to nothing about Journey to the West or Chinese mythology. So while I understood the basic premise of finding Wukong's relics throughout the land, everything else as far as who the characters were, what their relationship is to Wukong and each other, and why they're doing what they're doing, was totally lost to me. Even after watching a "story explained" video, it's very clear that the game is a true sequel to Journey to the West, and you're guaranteed to be lost about most things if you haven't read the book. But the fact that I still enjoyed the game despite this just shows how fun it is. If I enjoy the gameplay mechanics, not being able to follow the story isn't that big a deal to me. Also, the animated music videos between each chapter were amazing. My favorite is the one for chapter 3, which was so well choreographed but also deliciously horrifying.

Like I do with most games, I wanted to make sure I beat every boss and explored every area the game had to offer. But I also didn't want to follow a walkthrough religiously either (which is something I did in my early days of gaming with the Dark Souls games). Other than look up a boss list and where to find them, I played the game mostly blind until around chapter 4. I was upset when I realized I had missed key things in chapter 3, which was being able to fight the Apramana Bat and Rat Captain bosses, as well as attain the Auspicious Lantern curio from the Lantern Wardens (I did fight a couple of them, but then decided to avoid them once I got yeeted off the cliff, lol). So from that point on I carefully checked IGN's walkthrough as I explored each area. Thankfully those were the only two bosses I missed during the rest of my playthrough. But damn, does this game have so many hidden secrets! I can't imagine anyone finding all the bosses/secret areas without looking it up online.

I guess that's one complaint I have about the game...maybe the secrets are too secret? Like I said, I don't know how a player is expected to figure some of these things out if playing normally. Maybe some more hinting about how to access the secret bosses and areas would have been nice, even if it's just some NPC dialogue or more elaborate item descriptions. I also don't like that they hid an essential thing like armor upgrades behind a questline that's so easily missable. A couple other minor issues I had were forcing cutscenes in the middle of fights and your character being way too prone to stagger with few ways to increase Tenacity, resulting in many wasted mana and focus point attacks (why is Tenacity not part of the skill tree?) But again, these were just minor issues and took little away from my overall enjoyment.

So yeah, I highly recommend Black Myth Wukong if you like fantasy adventure games focused on boss battles and various combat styles.

[anntrapta]

Introduction

About Me:

Hai i'm Anne or Anntrapta and I am entrapta I don't care what anyone else says >:(

I am a 22 year old autistic trans woman computer science nerd.

Hobbies:

Coding, electronics, video games, game dev, and some other things i haven't had enough or any time to put passion into like with electronics only getting into it recently.

Media I like in no particular order:

Kipo Age of the Wonderbeasts, She-ra Princesses of Power, The Owl House, RWBY, Amphibia and Futurama are my favorite series of all time

World of Tomorrow parts 1 and 2 (not so much 3 but 3 is still really cool) It's Such a beautiful Day, Pirates of the Caribbean 1-3 (favorite being pirates 2 but gotta watch all 3 and not just 1) are my current favorite movies but I can never decide on my favorites as i don't rewatch movies often unlike series. (Also PS Don Hertzfeldt creator of World of Tomorrow and It's Such a Beautiful Day released a new movie today (october 12 2024) and it's awesome go watch it if you can)

Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Mirrors Edge, Ratchet and Clank 3 are my favorite games of all time (can't think of a 5th right now will come back)

that's all for now

[glassmarcus]

Sony's Z Targetable Weak Spot

As someone who has been playing Sony games for 20 years, it's weird how little attachment I have to their brand. I got a Playstation 2 so I could play Kingdom Hearts, but bought plenty of other games for it because that console is the Greatest of All Time. I've gotten every one of their consoles since then, yet I don't consider myself a Sony fan like I consider myself a Nintendo fan. I love Sly Cooper, I like Uncharted, I adore Bloodborne. On paper I should be a Sony pony, but I’m in no way ride or die. I think there's three reasons for this.

1) A lot of Sony properties aren't actually Sony properties. When I think early PlayStation, I think Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Spyro, Parappa the Rappa and Crash Bandicoot. Sony owns none of these. They had exclusivity initially, but after 20 years of being multi-platform/those franchises not existing anymore, it's hard to link any association to Sony. Though I still do think of Final Fantasy 7 as a Sony game due to the recent remakes. Even Kingdom Hearts, a game I bought a PS2 to play, stopped being a franchise exclusive to Sony within like 2 years. Their early reputation ends up feeling like stolen valor because they just happened to be only 3rd party friendly console available at the time.

2) Most of their franchises are dead. The last Sly Cooper Game ended on a cliff hanger and was never seen again. Naughty Dog would rather make The Last of Us for the 4th time than craft another Uncharted or Jak game. Bloodborne will never be on a modern console because we simply can't have nice things. This makes brand association much harder to maintain. No one really cares about what Intellectual Properties you own if you do nothing with them. I'm not a Zelda fan just because I played Oracle of Seasons when I was 4, I'm a Zelda fan because Nintendo groomed me to be one by releasing games regularly. No Sony franchise other than maybe Ratchet and Clank operates this way.

3) A lot of their IPs during 7th gen were just not for me. Kill Zone isn't my kind of game. Resistance isn't my speed. Little Big Planet is a game that is my speed, but it's a bad game so I never got into it. This is all very personal taste based, but it's why most of my PlayStation 3 collection is overwhelmingly 3rd party.

For all these reasons the Sony brand is a bit weak. Which is why the premise of Astro Bot is perplexing. Astro Bot as a franchise exist to display Sony tech. The Astro Playroom games are primarily tech demos for PlayStation Camera, PlayStation VR, and Dualsense technologies. The Astro Bot games are the ones which are full stand alone games. I haven't played Astro Bot Rescue Mission, but it seems to be very similar in structure to Astro Bot and doesn't have any proof of concept it needs to show off. But its still a VR, game so I can't comment much on that as I have yet to accept VR as a real way to play games.

Astro Bot is a follow up to the PlayStation 5 pack in game, Astro's Playroom. Instead of being a large tech demo, it is a fully realized platformer that is solid across the board. The game is near perfect as far as 3D platformers go. Each level has fleshed out ideas with unique level mechanics and set pieces. The motion control gimmicks are reigned in, unlike Playroom which got a little nuts with it. There is whimsy and charm in every corner of the galaxy in the world of Astro Bot. As a game I have very little to complain about and endless things to enjoy about it. Based on the presentation, structure, and polish, you could give Astro a Mario skin and skint your eyes to fool yourself into thinking it's Mario Galaxy 3. It's that good with really the only difference in design philosophy being that there are more collectibles in Astro Bot. As someone who prefers the Mario Galaxy games over the Sandbox Mario games, but still likes collecting things, this is the platonic ideal.

As a game, this is the most impressed I've been in years. The way Astro Bot used the PS5’s SSD should be required study for anyone developing on that console. It's doing everything right. But it's not just a game. It's Sony's 30th anniversary game. As such tries it's best to display Sony's rogues gallery of IPs and partners. Astro does a wonderful job in that display. Over a hundred unique costumes are given to the robots you collect, all of them being references to Sony and Sony adjacent characters. These robots both look and act the part and it's fun going through the game seeing which of them you can recognize. In addition to that, there are 5 stages which are dedicated entirely to a certain franchise, one for each of their past consoles (except the Vita because I guess it didn’t sell enough). Ape Escape represents PlayStation 1. God of War represents PlayStation 2. Loco Roco represents the PlayStation Portable. Uncharted reps the Playstation 3, and Horizon reps the Playstation 4. These are all delightful levels which show great reverence to the series they are parodying. These levels and the game entirely ended up feeling like a glorified advertisement for their IPs. And you know what, that's great. I'm completely down with the Astro Bot franchise existing to be phenomenal games that shill other games. If this could be the Lego Movie of video games, I'd sleep perfectly fine every night.

But what actually are they advertising here? Most of these franchises aren't Sony franchises. Most of these Sony IPs haven't seen the light of day in decades. There are still glaring omissions here. There needs to be way more RPGs here if we want to represent PlayStation accurately. The more I think about it, the sadder I get. It's like we're throwing a house party at a funeral. It's like we're being peddled mythical goods which have vanished from history a millennia ago. You can't show me Jak, remind me he has been dead for 20 years, and then just move on. They haven't even rereleased the Jak games. How am I supposed to confirm that I still don't like Jak 2 if you don't give me an avenue to play it Sony? It all just amounts to embarrassing false advertising. Say what you will about Super Smash Bros, most of the those games are proud supported IPs which have games I can play right now, and I say this as a Kid Icarus and Punch Out fan.

This in no way ruins the game or makes it lesser by the way. I think think it's perverse how Sony decided to fund a game that pointed out exactly how it has been slacking in regards to its IP management.

[lucifer-kane]

I'm gonna be honest thinking on my feelings about all the Dragon Age games and I, personally, can't really rank them into what one I like more than another. They all hold a different spot in my heart for various different reasons. You can say Inquisition is bad w/e and I think my love for it is mainly nostalgia based because it was my first DA game 6-12 months after it released. But still, I loved everything about it. Flaws and all, just like the other games (I don't want to hear how bad you think it is/how much you hate it. I don't give a shit. I love it so much)

Origins is special to me because it's a beginning and my Warden is very special because he's so different than any of my other DA protags. 2 is special because it's just. I can't put into words why I love it so much, it feels like coming home, it feels right.

Finally, with Veilguard, it's just special to me because it's the first time I'm actually active in the DA fanbase at the launch of a game. While I wasn't far off launch with Inquisition, I didn't really participate in the fandom back then, for some reason. But with Veilguard I just. I love everything about it, while also having criticism like everyone else, but I haven't had this much fun in a game in a long time. It's overshot my love of bg3 by. A lot. It's firmly up there with my love and entertainment level that of Dishonored and Bloodborne for me tbh

[silenthillmutual]

Patches for the character ask game. I need to hear more of your opinions on my favorite bastard >:-)

First impression Well, I first encountered him as a spider in Bloodborne, so I believe my first impression was "is that man a spider? is that spider a man? ...how??"

Impression now That's my best friend Patches. Sure, he's kicked me down a hole a time or two, but it's just what he does. Would you stop a dog from barking? Are you so cruel?

Favorite moment Can I please just count your fanfic as my favorite Patches moment? Because I know it is going to give me more than FromSoft is able to do until they release a Patches-centric game.

If pressed for a canon example though, his "Are your feet as fat as your wits?" lives in my brain rent-free.

Idea for a story I really want to write the Patches-at-Byrgenwerth fic that I've seen people headcanon and all so, so badly. But I need to consult with Patches Scholars (ie you) before I get into all that.

Unpopular opinion I legitimately do not understand the amount of ire he gets in the soulsborne community. I get it, he kicked you down a hole. So? People are still eager to throw themselves at Lautrec and he does much worse, imo. I think it's because he's bald. If he were "conventionally attractive" or whatever I don't think he'd get half the hate.

Also I think he should be in an Echo Night game.

Favorite relationship I'm not sure about canon relationships he has, as I haven't properly gotten to that yet in Dark Souls (and in Bloodborne... ohhhh I think about his mother and how he's so far away from her and is that because he turned into a spider? Does she know? Is that why she's kind of losing it in the endgame? Many questions!) but i do love the people who have decided that Patches is now their OC's brother or parent or lover. Hell yeah!

Favorite headcanon I saw one in the tags once that said something like, he had a rivalry with Micolash because they each thought the other was squandering university resources, but really it was all being embezzled by Laurence. That had me in stitches. Now it's just graphed onto me that Patches and Micolash had a rivalry. They should team up and kick Laurence into a hole.

[eight-freakin-gids]

A review of Another Crab's Treasure where I also talk about Slay the Princess  

I've finished* playing two very different games recently, and my experiences with them are such that I feel compelled to share my thoughts on them. This is a long post, so here's a Read More.

      The first of these games is Another Crab's Treasure, the indie Souls-like action RPG. I want to preface this by saying I'm not really a negative person by a lot of standards. My friends and family will occasionally joke that I think everything is "fine," and there's some truth in that. I tend not to hold anything to an exceptionally high standard. I am not overly critical of anything that doesn't meet my standards.

      With that in mind, I did not like this game, and I feel bad about that.

      For some background, I got into the Dark Souls series sometime between the releases of Bloodborne and Dark Souls III. I started with Dark Souls II, and had a hard time getting into it (but later revisited and finished it). Contrasted with that, I got really into Bloodborne, and still consider it one of my favorite games of all time. I played Dark Souls III when it came out, and played the Painted World DLC when it came out. However, I didn't play the Ringed City, and I have yet to play any other souls-like after that point. No Sekiro, no Nioh 2, and not even Eldin Ring (despite literally everyone and their dog playing it). I think a big part of this is due to life circumstances. I don't own my own PS4 or PS5, nor do I own a gaming PC. I could only play Bloodborne and Dark Souls III because I lived with my siblings and could conveniently borrow theirs.

      But I also tell you this because there's a chance I'm just not a SoulsBorne guy. I haven't really had the motivation to seek out these titles I've missed. This could explain why I feel the way I do about A.C.T. But at least, I want to be clear I don't need to git gud either.

      So anyway, we get this new Crab Souls on the Switch, and I think that I might as well try it out. 

      Credit where it's due, Another Crab's Treasure crafts a nice world. It's colorful, it's funny, it's charming, and it brings attention to the real-world problem of polluted oceans. But subjectively, I can't say I enjoyed the game very much. To sum up my biggest issue in one word, it's options. I am a player who values decision making in games. I want to express myself through the choices I make, be it narrative decisions or choice of strategy. Another Crab's Treasure didn't make me feel like I had many choices, and those choices I did have didn't feel like they mattered.

      The game invites us to compare it to its inspirations, so I'm going to compare it to Dark Souls III. I like Bloodborne more, but I want to do Crab Game the favor of trying to create a more direct comparison. 

      In Dark Souls III, you immediately begin with the option to choose between one of a few base character options. Each one offers different tools in order to tackle the incoming challenges. After navigating the opening area and defeating the first boss, you are immediately given access to the game's central hub. In addition to anything you find in the opening area, you can buy more weapons, ammo, and consumable items to help you on your way. The options available to you only increase as you continue to play the game. So many weapons, spells, and armor sets at your disposal, free to mix and match to your heart's content.

      When I played Another Crab's Treasure, I felt stifled. You don't get any starting options. You have one weapon. It has two attacks: light and heavy (compared to Dark Souls games, where you usually have light, heavy, fully-charged heavy, dodge attack, roll attack, running attack, and plunging attack at least. None of that even considering the game-specific movesets like Trick Weapons, Weapon Arts, dual wielding, or Power Stancing). Oh, Crab Game has plunging attacks and running attacks, but you have to unlock them in a skill tree after beating the first boss! Yay! Isn't that awesome?

      I think Crab Game's first boss is really when my opinion on it began to sour. They introduce the Shell mechanic to you, and I do not care for it. What little choice for customization the game would have in this system is offset by the inconsistent nature of it. You can never guarantee access to a specific shell, because you're limited to what you can find in the environment. Even something as simple as a preference between Small, Medium, and Heavy is not something you can guarantee. This lack of consistency only gets worse with the introduction of the Umami system. I hoped that acquiring this game's magic system would help ease my pain, but no. Your "spell" (singular) is tied to what shell you're using. Did you like that spell? Too bad, you weren't perfect, and now you have to manage with something else. Why bother even learning what all of the spells do? It's not like you'll have any of them for long.

      But I'm getting ahead of myself. The fact that Shells have durability also bothers me. Blocking feels like a complete waste of time. You move so much slower while blocking (regardless of what your shell's weight is), and you lose effective health even when you successfully guard against an attack. So. Why. Even. Bother? Also, they throw this entire shell system at you immediately before you have to fight the game's first boss. Better figure it out quickly, fucker!

      It took me an appropriate amount of time to beat Crab Game's first boss. I didn't hate the game, but I was having less fun. Progressing from there, you unlock the game's skill tree system before reaching the second boss. But before that, I want to talk about this game's performance issues. I probably didn't do myself any favors by choosing to play the Switch version. The frame rate drops considerably during certain scenes. And I normally don't give two hoots about performance in a game— I love Bloodborne in all of its 30 FPS glory. So when I bring it up here, know that it means I thought it was considerably distracting. 

      So I'm making my way through the corrupted Fort Slacktide en route to boss #2. At this point, the game's map choices became a mixed bag for me. The implementation of the Grappling Hook was intriguing, but ultimately made it feel like a Legend of Zelda item in the worst possible way. Rather than using it as a generalized tool to navigate any obstacle, you only ever use it to overcome a Grappling Hook Obstacle(tm). I have a few other nitpicks with the Fort Slacktide experience, but I'll spare you some of those. This review is long enough as is. I reached the first shortcut for the area, died, and then never figured out how to use that shortcut. This was also the first and only time I lost all of my Microplastics. So after giving up on finding the shortcut, I try to make my way back up through the same path. And then, I get hit and clip through a wall directly to the fort's second shortcut. I'm not going to hold a bug against this game too much, but know that it happened. With that, my time at Fort Slacktide came to a premature and unsatisfying end. I fought the boss and beat it on the first try. Why is this significant? Because I stopped caring. I just mashed dodge and light attack until I won.

      I have yet to make my way to the alluded-to Big City area. Judging by my collection of Corruption Crystals, The Shallows is likely one area out of fourteen. I'll admit I've played a comically small amount of this game. If you argue that I haven't played enough, I don't think I'll disagree with you. Maybe all of my problems will be solved if only I go a little further, but I don't feel like rolling the dice on that. That doesn't change what I've experienced.

      More than anything, this game has solidified a rule for me: any time a game makes me say aloud "This game is fucking stupid," my enthusiasm for that game is cut in half. 

      Sorry, Another Crab's Treasure. I sincerely hope that I'm in the minority here. I hope your game is the delightful souls-like romp that it looks to be. I hope to give it another chance some other time, but I won't be finishing it now.

      I've written a lot, so I'd like to summarize my points for anyone who doesn't want to read all my hogwash.

Another Crab's Treasure offers considerably less meaningful decisions compared to its contemporaries, and that is in direct conflict with one of my core desires for playing games.

The choices that the game does offer are shallow and come at a slow trickle.

The Switch version has performance issues bad enough that it bothers me, the guy who never cares about game performance so long as the experience is fun.

The systems that set this game apart from its contemporaries (namely, the Shell system) do not serve to improve the game experience for me.

I feel like the game has rewarded me for not engaging with its mechanics. I just did whatever was simplest, and it was the most effective.

I haven't been given any reason to believe that these problems will meaningfully improve if I keep playing.

      Now, I don't intend to talk for long about the other game I played. Partly this is to avoid spoilers, but it's also because I've already written a lot. Above all, I want to leave off on a positive note, so I want to talk about Slay the Princess.

      Slay the Princess is a visual novel. It's a horror story. It's a love story. It's a monochromatic game that features time loops, so how could I, an In Stars and Time enjoyer, not like it?

      I think the biggest reason that I wanted to talk about this game alongside Another Crab's Treasure is to contrast the decision making between the two.

      Slay the Princess, like many other visual novels, features choice of dialog as the primary "game" mechanic. Normally, I enjoy games with complex systems that I can really sink my teeth into. And yet, visual novels are also a favorite of mine. In spite of their simplicity, the impact of your choices is a central pillar to the genre, and that appeals to me greatly.

      This game takes that a step further. It does a thing I love: it makes your decisions matter even when you think that they won't matter. In any given scene, you roughly have two choices: select an "Explore" dialog option, or choose an option that advances the scene. Generally, an Explore option will provide you with new information. Sometimes, it also adds even more dialog options.

      But sometimes, the Explore options will secretly be the options to advance, for better or for worse. Sometimes you can back out, and sometimes you have to live with your decision. I could see that element of the game frustrating some players, but that's the reason why I love it so much. Adding stakes to all dialog invites the player deeper into the role play. You're not just here to mash through all of the text until you reach your next signpost decision. Every line of dialog has consequences, so you need to think carefully. What do you want to say? What do you want to do? Choose carefully. Sometimes, the game will remember your choices even when those choices don't seem like they would have mattered.

      There are a number of other things about this game I adore. It offers an intriguing narrative that had me speculating like a madman, so needless to say I think the story is good. The artwork is gorgeous and haunting at the same time. And, it features the voice talents of Jonathan Sims of The Magnus Archives fame.

      I played this game alongside my younger siblings, and I loved it enough that I will happily revisit it in my own time. 

      If anything I've said here encourages you to try out a new game, than that's a win for me. Maybe you disagree with me about Crab Game. Maybe my reservations about Crab Game give you enough heads-up to better work through it's problems. Or maybe my vague praises of Slay the Princess have piqued your interest. In any case, I hope I can contribute a positive experience to your life.

[asleepinawell]

hot off the triumph of my ng+ run of dark souls 1, i decided to finally go back to try and beat ringed city which i rage quit 2 years ago (read more because i rambled a bit) (obligatory note that this is all just my opinion, other people get different things out of the game and that's fine, etc)

i didn't quit over a boss fight, but over that stretch between the inner wall bonfire and the swamp where the devs were like okay turtle clerics, ringed knights, SIX harald knights on the stairs backed up by ranged, and then a goddamn swamp in a level that should have been a cool ruined city. and all of the hard damage sponge enemies respawn. so if you die you have to go through a ton of very slow hard fights again and it's tedious

this time i looked up where the bonfire was and just made a run for it. and then after trying the next part did the same thing again. it is just frustrating. i can't play for more than twenty minutes at a time without having to turn it off and find something actually fun to do

the whole time I've been thinking about what makes a soulsborne level actually good. i've never thought it was difficulty (and would argue that being known as "so so hard" becoming the core aspect of soulsborne has been the worst thing to happen to the series)

for me, the best levels depend on patience and observation, not extremely hard enemies spawning out of nowhere. the sign of a good level is that when you finish it, when you're out of the thick of it, you think "hey that was cool and i wouldn't mind doing it again someday". and you think that regardless of any annoyance or difficulty you had along the way

when you finish an area and just think "i never want to go through that again" then something went wrong

i think about tower of latria, anor londo, darkroot garden, tomb of giants, central yarhnam, and even the valley of defilement and yeah some of those were grueling but god were they cool and i will go back to them someday. ringed city makes me think i'd rather go mop my kitchen (which i did so i guess something good came of it)

similar feeling about boss fights. artorias and manus were challenging but i ended both fights being like fuck yeah i did it! and the fights looked and felt really cool. i felt like i was fighting a duel rather than waiting for the boss to stop ping-ponging off the walls shitting status effects so i could get in one hit

the first boss fight in ringed city (I'm up to the second one now but haven't done it yet) i was like oh good now i never have to do that again (i don't even remember it very well, just that i didn't enjoy it). i actually prefer easy fights that have neat atmosphere (moonlight butterfly) to harder ones that leave me frustrated and think the best ones combine elements of challenge and atmosphere

(artorias' primal screams still get me every time, the deceptive speed he can move with despite lurching around, his dead arm dangling, the trail of abyss corruption, the way i remembered all his attacks years later...god that fight was good)

anyway i love the series a ton and I'll just end with the fact i have beaten demon's souls about 5 times (3 ng+ iterations included), and dark souls 1 about the same number of times. i've been through bloodborne twice and am almost through a third time. elden ring i beat twice and it's kind of a mixed bag. and then there's ds3 which i beat once and have 5 new characters i never got far on (i did like it but felt no desire to replay). i don't think i ever touched ds2 again after beating it. to me that says a lot

[visceraloves]

what are YOUR top five video games!!

and also top five thread colors

My Top 5 Video Games!! (+ notes, cause I heart yapping <3)

1. Spider-Man ps4

It basically kickstarted my extreme love of spider-man. The controls and overall feel of spider-man 2/ps5 is way better, but I like the story better in the first one :]

2. Bloodborne

The aesthetics of this game are so goddamn rad I'm in awe every time I open it. The playstyle is something I had to get used to cause I'd never played a soulslike game before, but its very fun to get into. Ngl I haven't even finished it (I am a chronic game-starter but very bad at finishing them) but I love it very much. (I am jumpscared by every enemy in the game every time I play)

3. Hades

I actually just started playing it, but it has to be one of the most addicting games I've ever played, while also being good. Stuff like crappy mobile games made for kids can be addicting, but they're not good like Hades is good. It's artstyle is gorgeous, and the combat rocks. Also? Really love the voice acting in it. I am stuck on Hades' second boss phase..

4. Ace Attorney

I'm cheating the prompt a bit by naming the whole series. I've played 1-3 + most of AJ, and like them all pretty equally! If I had to choose I'd pick Trials and Tribulations. My AA hyperfixation was insane, and I think the series is probably a permanent part of my brain forever.

5. Minecraft

minecraft.

nah fr though, it's one of the first games I got really into. I had it on my Nintendo Wii U when I was like 8, and it's probably one of my most played games ever. Still never beat the ender dragon on solo survival (I'm a filthy casual that just makes houses and collects pets)

I've played (well. started and partially played) and loved so many games it's a little hard to pick just 5, or rank them at all, but uh yeah. I think that's my top 5!

As for thread colors, I actually have no idea what you mean by that, sorry :,)

[starfolk7]

1 for Lies of P and your other fandoms (how yould you forget Pino and friends? xD)

Omg you're right I blanked and forgot to list that in the tags MY BAD JFHDHD

1. List 3 positive things about your current fandom(s)

I guess I'm gonna organize these by fandom lol

Pokemon:

- Diversity! Since it's been around for so long, there's tons of fics to read. If you can think of it, someone has probably written it. There's a Mewtwo fic I found in college that's basically a retelling of the events of the first movie, but holy shit it's written so beautifully it made me cry in front of my friends rjrhdgde. It's a dense read, but still one of my absolute favorite fics to this day. That's just an example of things you can find!

- Sub-fan bases. Basically, if you're a big fan of a certain Pokémon, a type of Pokémon, one of the games, etc., you're going to find your people very easily. Kind of falls under the first one a bit but ya know lol.

- Some of the cutest and also the most badass fanart comes out of this fandom. I have both art of a Sylveon with a lollipop and art of Mewtwo breaking out of their armor from the first movie. The duality of man djrhdgs

SoulsBorne

-Maybe I've gotten lucky and just found really nice people, but so far my experiences in the community have been largely positive! I've met some of the loveliest people by posting my Dark Souls and Bloodborne fics, and it really got me back into writing OCs again (you know that's my lifeblood lol)

-Character and lore analyses. Not that I agree with all of them, of course I don't, but if you want an analyses of anything in these games, there's some mad lad out there that's done it, whether it's a post or through an entire fic. Gives you tons to think about!

-ART!! Holy shit there's so many amazing artists in this community. We don't talk about how much SoulsBorne art I've snagged at conventions (I got more of it and Elden Ring stuff at Magfest don't look at me fjfhdhd)

Lies of P

-I haven't been in this fandom for long, but so far everyone I've met has been very sweet! They're also super OC-friendly. I can't tell you how many Stalker and Puppet OCs I've seen, among others, it's really amazing!

-Probably gonna say this for all of my fandoms but the ART OMG. There's so much gorgeous fanart floating around for this game it's insane. Still on the hunt for more Romeo pieces tho rjrhehe

-Headcanon diversity. Do you want a totally mute P? One that talks sometimes? One that's Had Enough? What I'm getting at is there's a P out there for everyone! People have been exploring all the different character angles on him and it's wonderful to see.

Ultrakill

-THE HYPE. Since this is an early access game still in development, the hype that cranks up every time an update is announced is INSANE. I don't think I've ever seen this level of it for an indie game. I got in just in time to witness this for the Violence update and the rush it gives you seeing everyone so excited is amazing!! It helps that every single update has just been an absolute banger. We have reason to be super excited, the devs do stellar work!!

-LORE. Do you wanna feel like Charlie at the corkboard in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia? Because that's where I'm definitely at right now. Since we're in the last act of the game, there's so much speculation and so many theories about how the game will end. On top of that, people have been playing in the lore sandbox ever since this game started. I know I've def been up at night wondering how the hierarchy of Heaven works and what certain layers of Hell were like before Certain Events TM (I'm being vague because I know at least one person wants to play this bear with me lol). Basically there's tons to explore and the community collectively goes insane about different bits, we have fun here lmao

-I'm bundling art and memes into this one because oh my GOD. The tonal whiplash is a rollercoaster ride. You can go from the most heart-wrenching art of Gabriel you've ever seen to a piece that goes "V1 is a shrimp now" and sometimes you just need that snap back to some levity. The memes are absolutely top-tier. It helps that the voice actor for Gabriel already does memes and shitposts on his YouTube channel, so he just carries that over for Ultrakill stuff sometimes and y'know what? This game is dark, I'm gonna need these memes for when the ending makes me bawl like a baby. The Violence layer already has me feeling the creeping sense of dread (if you know you KNOW).

[yahargulian]

Tagged by @spookyfroggi, thank you so much!! ❤ Sorry it took me like a month to actually do this :')

Three ships: I've thought about vashwood every day for months now, with no signs of stopping. If anything it's getting worse ahgdjksajgk as for two others.. probably serennedy, which Does still have a grip on me, and cynonari, which is still such a source of joy and comfort even a whole year-and-change later. I also do have to mention chiscara though! That's one I'll never be able to shake off

First ever ship: So. It's technically the female protag of Pokémon BW and N, which I don't even know the ship name of in all honesty. But I was never super invested in it; I went and read a few fics and saw art on like. DeviantArt probably. And that was it. The first ship I ever got invested in was girokuru from Sgt. Frog, way back in 2012! Right around the time I made this blog. Though most of my engagement with it was, I think, through DeviantArt

Last song: It's this, from my Trigun Bloodborne AU playlist hehe

Last movie: Totally Killer, and it was really fun! I'd recommend it to any slasher/comedy fans

Currently reading: I'm still behind on Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen, I really should catch up soon. I also bought This Is How You Lose the Time War over the summer and haven't even picked it up since bringing it home :') I've just been caught up in work and fic stuff and video games

Currently watching: It's currently a few episodes of Blood Blockade Battlefront every weekend with the Trigun Server Gang (if any of you are reading this I'm waving at you 👋) since we finished Trigun 98 and Badlands Rumble together over the past month. And my brother and I finished Shadowhunters last Friday, so this Friday we'll be watching the first half of Fall of the House of Usher! I've also gotta start House of the Dragon soon for a friend. And Bungou Stray Dogs for another friend. You both know who you are (and I'm waving at you too 👋)

Currently consuming: Nothing, and I really should be because it's past midday and I haven't even eaten breakfast. And I've gotta leave the house in just under an hour oops

Currently craving: Soup with freshly baked and buttered bread rolls. Either chicken soup or leek and potato. My coworker had some chicken soup at work yesterday and it smelled so so good..

I'm tagging @ji-woonhaksslut, @reddish-wren, @lunarbelles, @roomtemeraturemysterymilk, @cainhuurst, @they-are-separate-things, @kagakutsukai, @artoriasss and @mochadove! 🥰

[discet]

I hope this fanfic creates a fandom ngl!

What games do you play (any type)?

That would be wild. Feels like that sometimes when I get fanart for it and stuff ^-^

I play a lot of games, table top included but Ill focus on video games here.

I really like platformers both 3d and 2d. Celeste, Hollow Knight, A Hat in Time, Tinykin, Rogue Legacy 2, and Shovel Knight are some of my most obsessively played games in the last few years. There is something so satisfying about a game with satisfying movement

I really enjoy roguelites such as Hades, Rogue Legacy 2, Into the Breech, and Binding of Issac have all been favs. Something about honing your skills and building up to overcome a great obsticle feels great. Clearing Heat 36 in Hades was one of my proudest moments as a gamer.

I also have enjoyed every Super Giant Game that has come out Bastion, Hades, and Pyre all being bangers. I also really enjoyed Transistor mechanically, even if I have some misgivings about its story.

Story focused games are hit or miss for me, but when they hit they hit hard. Night in the Woods and Beacon Pines were both delightful stories to explore.

The Return of Obra Din is in my top 10 absolutely, even though trying to categorize it is difficult. It's really its own thing.

I'm not big into Character Action games with the huge exception of the Soulslike games by Fromsoft. Sekiro is definitely my favorite among them, but I enjoyed all the Dark Souls and Elden Ring quite a lot. Haven't played much of Bloodborne tragically do to a lack of PS4.

I really loved Fallout 3 and especially New Vegas, but soured on Fallout 4. I also liked my playthroughs of Skyrim back in the day. RPG's that allow me to really immerse myself are my jam.

I also just love most of Valve's shooter catalogue. Half Life, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 were my top tier games in high school. Portal 2 remains one of my favorite games of all time. I liked the first 2 bioshocks for similar reasons (Infinity mostly pissed me off)

Oh I used to be huge into strategy games. Total War Series, Civilization, Fire Emblem, Advanced Wars, X-Com, Humankind. They used to be my obsession. I haven't played them as much lately, but they still hold a place in my heart.

...

Wow! I had a lot more to say than I thought. Thanks for this Ask Anon, it was fun thinking back on a hobby I've put so much time into.

[violetsystems]

#personal

I've been trying to not think or write about work. Ironically it has had me working on my day off no sooner than yesterday. I've been confronting that directly in a guarded way. Part of that is probably playing more games lately than anything. I've set my studio up in my office again and done my half hour hawkwind jams on a synth pad. Haven't felt much more inspired than that. If there's anything I'm more nostalgic about it is playing diablo ii on a wall street power book in the back of a car somewhere between Germany, Luxembourg and France. And that is a real fucking story. Look out the window and see a license plate tailing us clearly labeled "jihad." This was my first musical tour in the Netherlands before the Euro even had its day. And that probably dates me more than how many video games I've played. Which are many uncompleted trials still left on a bookshelf from playstation 3 and beyond. I had a dreamcast and a ps2 in my old office. Both were thrown away with my Korean edition of Neuromancer. I know what you are thinking? This guy I've been following for ten years is absolute bullshit. So is torment two in Diablo IV. There's four levels of torment. Elden Ring was definitely hard to a point up to the grind to level three hundred on first play through. I still haven't beaten the DLC. I beat the main game a year later with the Ranni ending and feel very accomplished because of it. But in the line of unfinished shit, from software titles are first in line. Bloodborne has had a few pushes and pulls over the years. Father Gascoigne is a significant drop off point for me. I played past it but it took me forever to understand the twitch mechanics with the trick gun.

When I came back to it after playing Elden Ring, I made it to the blood starved beast and scratched my head. And was too much in a depressed state to continue to be harsher by my misunderstanding of the mechanics. My boss at my old job has famously platinumed every from software game from demon's souls on. I remember them just not showing up to work and expecting us to manage to do it. Nowadays it's just some dude recording his Fleetwood Mac cover band on work time. But as far as someone who has played both his fair share of western and asian rpgs, diablo iv was what took me away from the relentless grind of Elden Ring. Partially because it is buggy as fuck in a mathematical way. Drawn in by some perverse micromanagement of statistics. I was actually a computational statistics major at one point after English. My area of expertise was psychology and data science. I think this is what holds people back from playing Elden Ring as a JPRG. Morrowind and company from Daggerfall on had that kind of sadism. It also let you play the game wrong and rewarded you for it situationally. I hacked Morrowind on my first xbox. I did the same as a kid to the original bard's tale series. In that I edited the hex values on the disk to create glitched characters with ridiculous stats to power level my party. And that was my first lesson in American time management. I had a lot of time on my hands when I completed Elden Ring. Now in commute mode, the only time I seem to have is staring out the window of a train. I have busted out the ds fat for a few rounds of Culdcept. And I play that with intention when I do.

I liked Bloodstained so much when I had playstation plus that I bought it for pc. And it does just kind of sit there until I'm in the mood and is rewarding like tea with a good friend. And I own Nier Automata after years of people raving about it. And it's the kind of game over when it ends that leaves you feeling frustrated. Armored Core 6 was kind of the same way except for the fact that it looks amazing on the tv. Which is something at native 4k and sixty frames per second let alone 120. I still have a copy of breath of the wild sitting barely played next to my Wii U. I used to have a Wii but my neighbor borrowed it and never gave it back. I've thought about buying more games on sale because of Black Friday. Sekiro is tempting. But may as well be another game sitting on the shelf with my money attached to it. Along with probably ten thousand magic cards sitting in storage or arranged in decks to be played Balatro style at the kitchen table by myself. I keep myself busy when people aren't around. Which is often aside from my dash and the mail. And work. Which can be a grind in and of itself but makes it easier to enjoy when I choose games over bullshit. I still collect and listen to music to. Read when I'm inspired too. Watch shitty movies because they are more authentic than real life. And often think about playing games with other people. I bought a copy of soul calibur on the ps3 for a date once. It could be a major red flag if the other person picks Voldo. I own it on pc for nostalgia's sake. But that doesn't really have my attention or focus. Favorite JRPG that I've actually played. I liked Final Fantasy XII a lot. But it would probably be Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga. Queue the "this is why you don't have friends" focus group. <3 Tim